Launched on 11 November 2023 aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-9, MANTIS was the first ESA InCubed satellite, backed by the UK Space Agency, and carried Satlantis’s iSIM90 high-resolution camera and a reconfigurable AI processor from Ubotica.
Over its two-year mission, MANTIS completed more than 10,000 orbits, capturing high-resolution daily imagery across half a million square kilometres.
Its advanced optics and AI transformed raw imagery into actionable intelligence in near real time, faster and more efficiently than traditional missions, enabling energy, mining and environmental sectors to make faster, more informed decisions.
The mission also advanced the use of AI in orbit and validated new technologies, processes, and operational models together with IngeniArs and Ubotica that are now embedded into the wider OpenConstellation.
OpenConstellation is the global Earth Observation constellation managed by Open Cosmos and used by governments, businesses, and organisations to tackle global challenges like climate change, resource management and environmental protection using space data.
MANTIS managed to acquire and download imagery within just 10 days of launch, which was presented at the UK Space Expo in 2023.
Designed from the start with sustainability in mind, the satellite is planned to be permanently shut down at an altitude of 300 km and will safely de-integrate during atmospheric re-entry, leaving no debris behind. This means MANTIS not only contributed to better environmental monitoring on Earth, but also left space itself cleaner for future missions.
Rafel Jordà Siquier, founder and CEO of Open Cosmos, said: “MANTIS was a landmark mission for Open Cosmos. It proved our ability to deliver end-to-end Earth Observation with state-of-the-art AI and optical technology, and it delivered critical data for sectors tackling climate, energy and land management challenges.”
